As the years of my life pass me by...

Wowie Zowie! Has it been that long since a post? Suppose it has. And here I've been chastising friends such as Bart and Tim for failure to update. The failure, my friends, is mine.

Much, much, much has happened since July 24th. At that time my little family and I (including my wife Cheri and my kids Kenny and Lydia) were living in Bristol, England, attending Grace Church Bristol of Sovereign Grace Ministries. We had moved there in the twilight hours of 2005 so I could train to be a teacher, courtesy of Her Majesty's Government.

On July 31st two friends, Neil and Ken, drove us to the airport. Air Canada was incredibly helpful as we arrived with mountains of excess luggage and a brand new baby in tow. They processed us quickly and without complaint. Thank God we were flying that week instead of the next week, when Heathrow was under clamp-down due to the terrorist plot.

It didn't take us long to get over jet-lag, except for poor Kenny who didn't understand what had happened during the time change. The next Monday I began my teaching job with Traditional Learning Academy in Surrey. I'm responsible for supporting all the distance students taking English courses in Grades 10, 11 and 12. It's plain old fun.

Meanwhile Cheri is taking good care of our two littl'uns. Kenny's two upper incisors are coming in, so his mood is sour and his bum is rashy. Lydia is a happy little tyke who smiles gummy smiles and has mastered the quivery bottom lip to indicate unhappiness.

At the moment, at least until October 1st, we are staying with my parents in Ocean Park. Oh, and Julie (known to Kenny as "ah-Julie"). Oh, and Daniel, a 12 year-old Korean homestay student. I shouldn't forget Willow, Julie's over-babied feline pet. It's a full house, but we appreciate the space everybody has made in their lives to accommodate us.

On October 1st, maybe a day or two before, we will be moving into the upper suite of this quaint older house on Indian Fort Drive in Ocean Park. Indian Fort is the squiggly continuation of 20th Avenue, on which my parents live. We were actively looking in Langley or Cloverdale, but divine intervention has insisted we stay in Ocean Park. Fine with us - parents live close, our friends the Manns are close, the beach is close, and "village-style" shopping doesn't get much better than Ocean Park Shopping Centre. Well, there are little English towns that do it better, but we don't live in England anymore.

Best of all, we're plugged back in at CrossWay Community Church. We received such a warm welcome our first Sunday back. I'm sure some folks who have joined in the past 8 months were wondering who we are. We're the prodigals! It's great to be back in care group and playing on worship team. Like many have said, it's as if we were never gone.

I had planned on wrapping up this entry with a profound verse of Scripture, but sometimes a children's song says it best: "God is so good, he's so good to me" (well, us).